The Chosen Warriors
by DD Leader Dark Heart of Water
Summary: The Warriors have yet again been summoned to save the digital world, but this time, circumstances have changed. They are no longer in their world, they can't spirit evolve unless in extreme circumstances and they must split into three humans and three partners in order to act as Chosen Children. But things never do go according to plan, now do they?


Hey guys! Sorry, no characters this time. I just wanted to give you guys a message. I'm a bit overloaded with fanfictions right now, and I want to keep doing most of them, but it's just getting to be too much. So I'll be putting a vote up on my profile soon and I want you guys to vote for whichever story you want me to finish first. The poll will be up for a month before I take it down. Thanks :)

I don't own digimon. Only the digimon I created.

* * *

_Welcome to America; where ninety percent of the population believe that the moon landing was faked and that professional wrestling is real – Anonymous (Sorry to any Americans. No offense intended)_

* * *

**The Chosen Warriors  
Chapter One**

* * *

In a darkened chamber, a young man with a long ponytail of chestnut-coloured hair stood alone in front of a large computer screen, his white robe tied tightly around him in a last ditch effort to keep the chilling drafts in the room from eating away at his body.

"Come on, come on," he muttered under his breath, furiously typing only to relax a moment later as the screen in front of him flickered to life and the image of the Celestial Angel Cherubimon appeared. "Finally…"

"Gennai," Cherubimon greeted in a deep, rumbling voice.

"Cherubimon," Gennai greeted in return. "How are things faring on your end?"

"Badly, but not as badly as things will soon be for you," Cherubimon responded gravely. "Has he been active?"

"So far, our charts are saying that he's done nothing more than twitch a few times," Gennai clicked a button and a small chart appeared in the corner of the screen for Cherubimon's benefit, "but that in itself is proof that the barrier is breaking."

"I see," Cherubimon took a deep breath and sighed. "It's time, then."

"Now?" Gennai's eyes widened. "But don't you need them with your predicament?"

"I will be able to deal with the situation here," Cherubimon promised. "But it is becoming far too dangerous to leave this to the Chosen alone."

"I see your point," Gennai sighed in reluctant acceptance. "When will they be arriving?"

"They will be there by noon, your time," Cherubimon responded before clicking several buttons and sending twelve documents to Gennai and another three to a separate email address. "I have just sent you their complete medical records, as well as the information on them that is necessary. I have also sent forms to the school; they will be posing as transfer students."

"Why send only three, then?" Gennai frowned in confusion.

"I think it would be in their best interest if they posed as Chosen Children as well," Cherubimon explained. "That would mean that three would have to act as partner digimon. This will be so that you can use them as a trump card if necessary."

"Understood," Gennai nodded in confirmation as Cherubimon smiled in an almost-sad manner.

"I'm afraid that we won't be able to talk again for quite some time; the barrier between the worlds will be unstable for a while after the transfer," Cherubimon rumbled, "and it must be kept as stable as possible until their return."

"I understand," Gennai sighed as he pressed the button that would terminate the connection for possibly the last time in either of their lives. "Goodbye, Cherubimon."

* * *

Kanbara Takuya thrashed in his bed, a part of the crumpled and half-discarded duvet clenched in a tight fist while his free hand held an olive-green hat and a set of goggles with square-shaped lenses – something that should have been impossible due to the fact that he had left them on his bedside table that night, and that said table was set almost a metre away from his bed. A cold sweat clung to his forehead, his breath coming in short laboured gasps, sucking in the much needed oxygen that was coming in quantities that were simply far too small.

A flash of lightning briefly illuminated Takuya's pigsty of a room just as a figure of a height somewhere between seven and a half and eight feet, his height forcing him to stoop so as to avoid hitting his head off of the ceiling. The figure's eyes scanned the room before he slowly made his way towards Takuya's bed, stumbling over and bumping into several things on the way; he never was the stealthy, silent type, as his friends often reminded him.

He observed the chocolate-haired human for a moment with an almost sad look of recognition on his half-masked face before he placed a black-gloved hand on the boy's sweaty forehead, allowing himself to enter Takuya's dream briefly; just long enough to see short flashes of the violent nightmare.

_A foolish plan that was destined to fail._

_An argument with a friend._

_A fight._

_Shock._

_Fear._

_A red, mangled blade._

_Heart pounding, blood rushing to his head with the prospect of certain death looming over him._

_A scream of pain._

_Cries of shock._

_A flash of light as a boy wearing a bandana fell to the ground._

_The coppery tang of blood in the air._

_Blood staining orange armour as he held his friend close to his chest in order to protect him from further pain._

_An overwhelming and crushing sense of guilt._

_Darkness._

The figure pulled his consciousness out of Takuya's dream, his slowly heating hand keeping the cold sweat at bay; he remembered what happened next. He didn't need to be reminded.

A few blocks away, five figures of a similar nature – although one being significantly shorter than the others – stood over five different humans in the same protective manner, struggling to soothe the nightmares with their elemental-based powers.

* * *

_Swords clashing._

_The sight of an identical face._

_Speeding towards the blood-red swords._

_A wall of red as the two warriors collided._

_Unbelievable pain as the twin swords pierced his armour._

_Falling to his knees, helpless in front of his enemy and twin brother._

* * *

_Travelling over a barren plain of red-hot rocks._

_A seemingly trustworthy digimon helping him._

_Memories of his older brother forced onto him; memories of how helpless he was without his spirits._

_Being held over a pit of lava._

_Falling towards the lava, his death almost certain._

* * *

_The need to protect those who couldn't protect themselves._

_An overwhelming sense of despair as she transformed and flew to meet her rival._

_Taunts that were all too familiar; almost identical to the ones that were thrown at her in school._

_Crimson eyes glaring at her as a stormy cloud appeared overhead._

_Torrents of rain plummeting down around her, forcing her to fall into the sea and de-digivolve._

_The crushing need for oxygen as spots began to cloud her vision._

* * *

_Punching rocks that the voice seemed to come from only for it to be an illusion._

_His enemy slowly rising from his own shadow._

_A stadium rising from the earth with him in it._

_His friends surrounding him, egging his enemy on. Egging the creature on to kill him._

_Losing; knowing that he had lost to himself. To the evil inside of him._

_Feeling hope begin to return as he saw his true friends, only to realise that he had to sacrifice himself to save them._

_Readying his trump card; a canon that fired electrical blasts. Neither of them would survive the attack at such a close range._

* * *

_Jealousy._

_Pain._

_Anger._

_The choice of apathy or pain; he chose the easy way out._

_Darkness being forced onto him; corruption. Evil._

_The knowledge that he was the one murdering everything that crossed his path and yet knowing that he had no power to stop himself from doing so._

_Meeting his younger brother on the battlefield._

_The powerful urge to draw his blood; to kill him. His own brother._

* * *

All six figures were fighting the urge to wake the humans in order to save them from the nightmares that plagued them.

Fortunately, they didn't have to watch them suffer for long, for a few minutes later, the phones belonging to the five – as well as the house phone of one – began vibrating and a symbol coloured white with a tan background appeared on the screens.

"**_Warriors,"_** a voice rumbled from each of them as the six figures took one of the humans' hands each, clasping them tightly. **_"You have been summoned!_**"

The six shot up in bed, their eyes wide and unseeing as though they were still dreaming. They all silently stood, allowing the figures to keep their grips on one hand as they reached for the vibrating phones with their free hands.

As soon as their fingers made contact with the devices, energy streams coloured red, white, cerulean, pink, yellow and black shot out of the chimneys of their houses, exploding like fireworks in the night sky. And just like that, they were gone.

* * *

"Patamon!" a white cat with yellow gloves and a purple striped tail bounded through the long grass after the flying guinea pig, her teeth gritted in agitation. "I'm going to kill you!"

"But you have to catch me first, Tailmon!" Patamon called in reply as he easily flew over the tall grass, ignoring his friend's threats. Suddenly however, the sound of rustling grass stopped, and Patamon glanced back to see Tailmon lying motionlessly on the ground. "Tailmon!" he yelped, zooming towards her.

Landing beside her, he prodded her gently, "Hey, are you okay?"

A single blue eye flashed open and instantly, Patamon regretted his decision to check on his friend as she lunged at him, bowling him over, her weight sending them rolling a good few metres out of the grass, "Got you!"

"No fair," Patamon pouted cutely as he struggled in Tailmon's grip only to freeze as he looked over her shoulder. "What in the world?"

Tailmon glanced behind her, releasing Patamon completely as she turned around to get a better look.

Behind them, six digimon lay on the ground, unconscious, all of them completely new to the digimon of Hope and Light.

The first one that caught their attention had bright orange hair that streamed down to his waist in a messy, bird-nest kind of fashion with two dull horns protruding from said hair near his temples and a pair of deer-like ears. His skin had a healthy tan, and underneath one closed eye was an odd beige marking – either a scar or a part of his design – while a pair of baggy orange trousers covered his legs. A thick belt with an unknown symbol etched into it held up said trousers, while orange gauntlets were attached to his arms – which also had beige markings similar to the one under his eye. Finally, a cute bob of a tail stuck out from a hole in the back of his trousers, twitching occasionally in the slight breeze.

The second was an equally distinctive digimon, although in a different manner. Grey and white fur completely covered his body and a pair of matching ears pricked up on his head. A long muzzle – compared to the first – led Tailmon and Patamon to believe that he was based off of a wolf, while a flurry of white fur surrounded his neck. White trousers covered his legs, black gloves hiding his hands and matching boots doing the same for his feet – although neither did anything to hide his long claws. Several black belts and bands were strapped to his arms and legs, and his mouth twitched occasionally as he growled in his sleep, revealing sharp fangs.

The next was a small bear-cub like digimon, extremely similar to a Bearmon, save the fact that he was white in colour and had no cap covering his head. Green boxing gloves covered his front and back paws, all emblazoned with a strange, cerulean symbol, while around his neck, he wore a green collar with an engraving of a bear head.

The lone girl of the group was certainly a strange one. Lavender hair fell in a waterfall-like fashion to her knees and her skin was extremely pale. A small pair of sea foam butterfly wings were attached to her shoulder blades while a visor was strapped to her head in a manner that suggested that it would be easy to pull down in order to protect her eyes from debris while flying. She wore a simple lilac t-shirt with a light pink symbol on it, while dark jeans hid her legs from view. Her shoes however, were light pink in colour, ten inches high and three inches thick and caused Patamon to start laughing quietly to himself – he never could understand why so many human girls wore high heels when they could hardly walk in them.

The final two were less human like, the former looking a lot like Tentomon, save the fact that he had more armour, smaller eyes and was blue and yellow in colour. Rather than spikes on his back, he had a yellow symbol and he seemed to only have two pinchers, but neither Tailmon nor Patamon were quite sure.

Finally, the last digimon had sleek, black fur and seemed to be a beast type digimon with no human-like qualities. A mane of grey-black fur hid the digimon's neck from view, and a purple symbol was tattooed to his flank. A thin tail that flicked occasionally suggested that he was either a lion or a cat digimon, but his long muzzle – similar to the wolf-digimon's – suggested otherwise. His paws were wide and should have made a lot of noise if he walked, but his dark coating was enough for the digimon of Hope and Light to know that he was a digimon built for stealth. He had a heavy build, and although he was lying down, it was easy to see that he was twice the size of both the Tentomon lookalike and the bear digimon, his size being roughly the same as the height of the waist of Inoue Miyako – one of the Chosen Children. He seemed to be a placid digimon, despite his size, but there was an odd feel about him – something that caused Tailmon to tense slightly when she looked at him.

"We should go tell Hikari and Takeru," Patamon stated after another moment and Tailmon nodded in response, the duo running to the nearest television without looking back.

* * *

Takuya yawned as he woke, rubbing one eye sleepily before standing up and falling forwards, slamming his face into the soft, grassy floor beneath him…

Wait, _what_?!

Instantly, Takuya was on his feet again, staring down at his body in shock and glancing around, green eyes wide as he noticed the five digimon surrounding him. Then he took a deep breath, deciding that it was either a dream or that he and his friends had indeed returned to the digital world.

But if the latter was the case, then why was he…_this_ again? He had thought that after he had returned to the digital world via the DarkTrailmon that he would never see this form again.

Before he could answer his own question, something in his pocket let out a high-pitched beep, causing the wolf digimon beside him to wince and groggily cover his ears, "Turn it off…"

"Uh…" Takuya reached into the pockets of his orange trousers, quickly finding the source of the noise; his black-and-red D-Scanner. "How do I use this again…?"

As he began randomly pressing buttons, the noise grew louder, irritating the wolf digimon, "I said turn it off!"

"I'm trying!" Takuya grumbled, glaring at the D-Scanner as the digimon's eyes flew open, revealing them to be blood red in colour, and he shot into a standing position.

"Damn it, Takuya; turn it_ off_!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Takuya yelled in reply, finally succeeding in silencing the D-Scanner. Then he glanced at the wolf digimon warily, "How did you know it was me?"

"I…I…" the wolf shook his head slightly, his eyes wide in shock as he glanced down at himself. Then he took a deep, calming breath. "I don't know."

"Kouji?" Takuya guessed, grinning as his friend nodded in confirmation.

A single glance told him that the female digimon would be Orimoto Izumi – it would have to be – and that the bear was Himi Tomoki due to the symbol of ice on his gloves. That left the beetle – most likely Shibayama Junpei – and the lion-cat that was easily his height, which was surprising considering he was a beast-type – definitely Kimura Kouichi, Kouji's elder twin brother.

**_"Takuya."_**

All attention was back on Takuya's D-Scanner as a tan and white symbol appeared on screen.

"…Cherubimon?" Takuya queried hesitantly, only to be met by silence; the message had obviously been pre-recorded.

**_"You are no doubt confused by the fact that you and your friends have been called to the digital world again," _**the Celestial Angel continued. **_"The answer is simple; it is in danger again. But you have not been called to the same place as you were last time. I cannot explain it to you now; I am running out of time. You will have to wait for the messenger to find out."_**

Silence had a tight hold of the clearing as Kouji and Takuya alike stared expectantly at the screen.

**_"What I can tell you is that you must not spirit evolve unless it is absolutely necessary and that three of you must remain as digimon at all times, although you can freely transfer between human and digimon forms. Takuya, you are now Flamon, Kouji is Strabimon, Tomoki is Miramon, Izumi is Calypsomon, Junpei is Jindomon and Kouichi is Shimon,"_** Cherubimon continued before pausing as though interrupted. When he began again, he seemed more hurried and agitated. **_"I must go now; I won't be able to contact you again. Good luck, Warriors."_**

Then the symbol faded and the screen filled with static once again.

"So we're back," a voice stated weakly after a moment and both Kouji and Takuya- no, Flamon and Strabimon whipped around to see all of their friends-turned-digimon awake and staring at them expectantly.

"Looks like it," Flamon blinked slightly, shoving his D-Scanner back into his pocket. "Now we just need to figure out who should turn human again."

The twins shared a look for a moment before stating unanimously, "We'll stay."

"Same here," Jindomon agreed as Miramon, Calypsomon and Flamon blinked in surprise.

"Are you guys sure?"

The trio nodded and after a moment, Flamon sighed in hesitant surrender before closing his eyes and searching for the usual, small store of energy that allowed him to de-digivolve. It took slightly longer than it had when he was Agnimon, but eventually he found it and let it spread through his body, Digicode surrounding him and transforming him back into a human.

When he opened his eyes, Izumi and Tomoki had mimicked his actions.

"So… should we try and find the messenger?" Takuya hesitantly asked, looking to Strabimon for advice. Before the wolf digimon could nod in agreement however, he stiffened suddenly, a growl forming in the back of his throat.

"Someone's coming…"

His claws extended even further as he whipped around to glare at the rustling bushes, eyeing the young, brown-haired man who stepped out of them a moment later with obvious distrust.

The man seemed oblivious to the wolf's glare, and greeted the humans and digimon cheerfully, "Hello there."

* * *

Yagami Hikari took a deep breath as she peered through the glass window of the computer room door, seeing the object of her nervousness already inside, "Come on, Yagami; you can do this…"

Taking another deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside, an obviously forced smile on her face, "Hey, Takeru."

"Hi, Hikari," Takaishi Takeru responded in a tight voice, his face unusually pale as he clutched Patamon to his chest. "Did Tailmon tell you what happened?"

"Obviously," a voice purred and Tailmon prowled out from behind a cabinet. "Otherwise she wouldn't be here."

Clenching her D3 tightly, Hikari smiled at her partner before glancing at the computer that Takeru was standing in front of, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah…" Takeru nodded hesitantly, raising his D3. "_Digiport, open._"

* * *

"Who are you?" Strabimon snarled as Gennai raised his hands in a peaceful gesture.

"I'm the messenger that Cherubimon told you about," he explained. "Well, there is another messenger, but he believed that I would be less intimidating to talk to than a fifty foot dragon."

No one laughed at his joke as he cleared his throat, "I expect that you're wondering why you're here-"

"And why three of us have to remain digimon at all times," Jindomon added, "_and _why the digital world has changed."

Takuya frowned at looked around. He hadn't noticed it at first, but Jindomon was right; the digital world had changed. Not a lot, but enough that it made a significant difference.

"You're not human," Shimon noted in a monotone voice so as not to appear hostile.

"That's true," the man nodded. "I'm Gennai; a... I guess you can call me a guidance programme. I was designed to choose the DigiDestined; children with the ability to travel to the digital world."

"You mean the Warriors?" Tomoki hesitantly asked. "Does that mean that you helped Ofanimon choose us?"

"No," Gennai replied shortly before elaborating. "I suppose that you are DigiDestined… but Legendary Warriors would be more of a fitting title for you. The Chosen Children or DigiDestined of this world work alongside digimon partners and lend them the energy necessary for said partners to digivolve rather than actually becoming digimon."

Strabimon snorted in distaste, but was silenced by a look from his brother.

"As Cherubimon has already told you," Gennai continued calmly, not at all agitated by Strabimon's outright mocking of the system of the Chosen Children, "you will be posing as Chosen Children-"

"Why?" Izumi frowned in confusion, drawing attention to her. "Why do we need to do this again if it isn't even our world? Why not someone else; we only saved our own world five months ago."

"Because of what you can do," Gennai explained slowly and quietly. "I am sure that Cherubimon has informed you that you are not to spirit evolve unless it is absolutely necessary; that is because we want to keep that a secret from our enemies so as to use it as a trump card. Not even the Chosen Children will know."

"So that's why three of us have to stay as digimon at all times?" Strabimon spat angrily. "To act as pets?"

"Partners," Gennai corrected only for Kouji to glare at him.

"_Pets_."

"Yes," Gennai replied after sighing through his nose. "You will be pretending to be Chosen Children."

"So who will be whose partner?" Shimon asked after narrowing his eyes slightly at his seething brother.

"It depends on who you best get along with," Gennai explained. Instantly, the twins glanced at one another, but before either of them could de-digivolve, Gennai quickly +stated, "It would be best if those of you who have already de-digivolved acted as the Chosen Children while you three," he glanced briefly at Strabimon, Shimon and Jindomon, "remained as digimon. Plainly because in your subconscious minds, you realised that if anyone attacked you suddenly, you would be the ones to fight them."

"That doesn't make sense," Tomoki frowned. "We could have easily digivolved again-"

"And in the time it took to digivolve, you could easily have been killed," Gennai cut in. "It may not make sense to you now, but it will in time."

"Fine; we stay as digimon," Strabimon fixed the so-called 'guidance programme' with a frosty stare. "What about our partners?"

"That will be easily decided," Gennai chuckled. "Close your eyes."

Hesitantly, the digimon closed their eyes and Gennai beckoned for Takuya, Izumi and Tomoki to come closer to him.

He then placed them side by side in an order that was different to the one they had been previously standing in before turning back to the digimon, "Keep your eyes closed, but walk to whatever aura you first sense."

After a moment, Strabimon took a step forwards and ended up next to Takuya while Shimon hesitantly made his way towards Izumi and Jindomon flew blindly towards Tomoki, almost knocking him over.

"There," Gennai clapped his hands together as the new partners looked at one another – Strabimon and Takuya in a way that made everyone else worry about them being partners. "Problem solved."

"What problem?" came a quiet voice as two children stepped out from the bushes – one a female with mousey brown hair, and the other a male with blonde hair – followed by a Patamon and a cat-like digimon that none of the warriors had ever seen before.

"Ah, Hikari, Takeru," Gennai smiled as the six Warriors observed the newcomers. "I was just wondering where you were. These are three of the new Chosen Children and their partners. This is Takuya and Strabimon, Izumi and Shimon, and Tomoki and Jindomon."

The three humans, Shimon and Jindomon all nodded at the newcomers, but Strabimon simply glared at them, causing them to shift uncomfortably.

"So they're Chosen?" Takeru inquired as Gennai nodded. "Why haven't we heard of them before?"

"They're not from this world," Gennai explained. "They're from an alternate dimension, and unfortunately, cannot go home until the situation here is dealt with."

"What… situation?" Takeru hesitantly asked, glancing sideways at Hikari. "The digital world has been peaceful since we defeated Vamdemon."

"It's in your best interest that you don't know the full details just yet," Gennai stated offhandedly.

Takeru growled slightly, redirecting his eyes to the ground as he clenched one fist in an effort to regain his self-control before he said something that he knew he would regret later.

"Right now, we need to find out where these three are staying."

A somewhat panicked look appeared in Strabimon's eyes as he glanced back at Takuya – who picked up on his wariness to stay with the Chosen Children, "We could always camp out in the digital world; we've done it before-"

"It would be much too dangerous now," Gennai objected, causing Strabimon to growl.

"Why?"

Takeru and Hikari blinked in surprise, never having seen anyone – let alone a partner digimon – carry such a disrespectful tone whilst conversing with Gennai.

The guidance programme narrowed his eyes at the wolf digimon, "Because of what you can do. If any evil digimon got wind of it and knew where you were staying…"

He trailed off, allowing Strabimon to figure the rest out.

Hikari bit her lip hesitantly before stepping forward, "What can they do?"

"Pray to the gods that you will never have to find out," Gennai replied in such a serious tone that it caused even Tailmon to subconsciously hope that she wouldn't find out.

Then Gennai smiled slightly, "Hikari, I believe that your parents are involved in the student exchange each year and these three will be transferring to your school. Would you be able to take Izumi and Takuya?"

"Why both of them?" Hikari immediately questioned.

"They're siblings, and I would rather not split them up," Gennai explained, briefly glancing sideways at Strabimon and Shimon before turning back to Takeru. "And Yamato is also involved in the exchange, isn't he?" When Takeru nodded, Gennai glanced at Tomoki, "Then you'll be staying with Ishida Yamato; the Chosen Child of friendship."

"Shouldn't we ask him first?" Hikari queried. "His parents might have already accepted someone else-"

"It's all been taken care of," Gennai promised before turning to leave. "I advise you leave before anything attacks. Good luck."

Before he left though, he suddenly glanced back over his shoulder, "And if you could bring the new Chosen to my house in a few days, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Why?" Tailmon scowled slightly as Gennai smirked.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Tailmon."

* * *

After school in Odaiba, it was never an uncommon sight to see the Chosen Children – Inoue Miyako, Ichijouji Ken, Hida Iori, Motomiya Daisuke, Hikari and Takeru – enter the computer room as the 'computer club', usually with at least one of the elder Chosen – most commonly Izumi 'Izzy' Koushiro.

Which is why Hikari and Takeru were surprised to find Yamato there instead of Izzy, along with Yagami Taichi, instead of the younger Chosen.

"Onii-san," both Hikari and Takeru grinned only to be crushed by the three new Chosen half a second later.

"Takuya; get off of me!" Izumi yelled at her brown-haired 'brother' as he glared at her.

"I will when Tomoki gets off of me!"

"Sorry," Tomoki apologised, quickly clambering off his friends and helping them up before looking around frantically. "Hey, where'd Ju- Jindomon go?!"

"Strabimon and Shimon are gone too!" Takuya gasped in realisation, not noticing Hikari, Taichi, Takeru and Yamato exchanging amused looks.

"Guys?" an irritated voice drew their attention to the table on which the computer that they'd been transported from the digital world through was sitting on. "We're right here."

Sitting on the table were three small digimon, none of which were even as tall as Tomoki's knee.

The first was what looked like a pale yellow egg with antennae, small, blue wings that shouldn't be able to hold it up (but then again, this is Digimon; spitting in the eye of physics since the nineteen nineties) and an electrical blue marking on his forehead. His eyes were dark brown, and he had four tiny legs that looked just as feeble as his wings.

The next was slightly larger; he had a thick black coat of fur with a dark grey muzzle and wide, cobalt eyes. A thin, black tail flicked sideways in the air and four, grey-furred legs were holding him up. He looked slightly less egg-like and more like a small cat, and there was a dark grey marking on his left flank.

Finally, the third was about half the size of the second and was a small, silver-blue wolf pup with startling cobalt eyes and a light grey muzzle. Silver whiskers gleamed in the sunlight on his muzzle, and his legs were more like an actual dog or wolf's rather than the stubs possessed by the first. Finally, he had a small black nose and a light blue marking on his right flank.

"Jindomon?" Tomoki cocked his head to one side as he stared at the first – who shrugged as best he could.

"Obviously; I don't think Shimon or Strabimon would have antennae."

"What happened to you guys?" Izumi gaped as Takuya pulled out his D-Scanner.

_Akarumon; the In-Training form of Strabimon. Yorumon; the In-Training form of Shimon. Arashimon; the In-Training form of Jindomon. These are not digimon that another digimon of his level would want to fight. Unlike most others, they do possess attacks that do not involve pink bubbles._

(DD: Sorry, I wouldn't usually push it all together like that but I couldn't think of what to say…)

"Akarumon?" Takuya glanced sideways at the small wolf-pup as he nodded before holding back a laugh, causing Akarumon to glare at him.

"Not. One. Word."

"Got it," Takuya nodded, although still holding back laughter as Izumi and Hikari 'awed' over the three in-training digimon.

"So I'm guessing you're Kanbara Takuya and Izumi?" Taichi glanced sideways at Takuya and Izumi – who nodded.

"How did you know?"

"The school sent my parents a notice that you'd be staying with us," Taichi explained before turning towards the door. "Come on; we need to go unless you want to try my mom's cooking."

Instantly, Yamato, Hikari and Takeru winced. "She's not making curry again is she?" Hikari whimpered only for Taichi to shake his head.

"Worse; ramen."

Instantly, Hikari grabbed Izumi and Takuya's wrists – barely giving them enough time to grab Akarumon and Yorumon – before sprinting out of the computer room with Tailmon already in her duffel bag, "We need to get home!"

"Is it really that bad?" Tomoki glanced up at Yamato as Taichi left.

"Let's just say that not even a starving rat would eat Yagami-san's ramen," Yamato sighed.

* * *

"Thanks for dinner, Yagami-san," Izumi called as she and Takuya walked into the bedroom that had been given to them. "It was… great…"

As soon as she closed the door, she walked to the single bed furthest from the door and unzipped the black duffel bag that Taichi had leant her, "Okay, guys; you can come out now."

"Finally," Akarumon gasped for breath as he and Yorumon leapt out of the bag. "What… does he keep in there?!"

"It isn't that bad," Izumi said, taking a whiff of the bag only for Akarumon to glare at her.

"You try being in there with a sensitive nose for _an hour and a half!_"

"Okay; sorry," Izumi held up her hands in surrender only for Yorumon to prod his brother lightly.

"You don't need to snap."

Akarumon simply grunted in reply before looking up at Takuya – who was struggling not to laugh, "What?"

"I'm sorry, it's just…" Takuya then gave up trying to conceal his laughter. "You're so tiny!"

"_What_?" Akarumon snarled, his small fangs bared (DD: XD).

"You look like a puppy! It's ad-adorable!" Takuya chuckled as Izumi cocked her head to one side, examining Akarumon before smiling softly.

"You actually kind of do, Kouji…"

Akarumon took a slow, deep breath before a cocoon of Digicode surrounded him, fading to reveal the usual Kouji, instantly stopping Takuya's laughter.

"So, _buddy,_" Kouji smiled a little too innocently through gritted teeth as he took a step towards Takuya. "You think Akarumon's _adorable_?"

"Eh heh," Takuya gulped nervously. When Kouji said 'buddy', he knew he was in trouble. He glanced sideways at Izumi before whimpering in a small voice, "Help?"

Instantly, Kouji leapt on Takuya and began pummelling him with a pillow.

Takuya yelped, rolling so that he was able to stand up again, but Kouji lunged at him, knocking him over and would have crushed Yorumon – had Izumi not yanked him out of the way in time.

"Thanks," Yorumon's eyes were wide as he and Izumi observed the fighting warriors before Izumi sighed, set him down on the bed and grabbed a spray bottle from the nightstand. As soon as the water landed on Takuya and Kouji, they sprang up, backing away to avoid the water.

"Hey!"

"Cut it out," Izumi barked only for Takuya to glare at Kouji.

"He started it!"

"Did not!"

"Oh for the love of gods," Izumi groaned before spraying them again, watching with vague amusement as they cowered away from the water. "I swear you guys are like cats."

She then pointed to the water, "Am I going to need this again?" The boys frantically shook their heads as Izumi smiled and placed the water on the bedside table again. "Good. Now Kouji, you need to digivolve again before anyone comes in here."

"Fine," Kouji rolled his eyes, allowing the Digicode to cocoon him again before emerging as Akarumon, glaring at Takuya. "_One_ word, and I will end you."

* * *

"-and my dad's hardly ever around, but he knows about digimon, so Arashimon should be safe," Yamato smiled at Tomoki before pulling out his phone as it rang.

"Hey Hatsuharu…yeah, I'm at home, why? ...No that's Wednesday. Today's Wednesday?!" Yamato glanced at the calendar on the fridge before groaning and face-palming, "Crap, sorry; I'm on my way!" He hung up before grabbing his coat and calling to Tomoki over his shoulder, "Sorry, but I need to go; I'm late for band practice! There's curry in the fridge if you're hungry!"

Then the door slammed shut, leaving Tomoki and Arashimon alone.

"Well that was weird," Arashimon blinked before glancing up at Tomoki. "How are you holding up, kid?"

"I'm fine," Tomoki sighed as he picked Arashimon up and carried him into the bedroom due to the fact that he hadn't gotten used to having such small wings and had a tendency to crash into things. "It's just… strange. I only lived a few apartments down from here back home… When we were walking up the stairs I half expected my mom to come running out."

Arashimon sighed before leaping out of Tomoki's arms, de-digivolving in mid-air before falling flat on his face, "Okay… I really didn't think that through… ow…"

After a moment, he stood up and pulled his ten-year-old partner into an awkward hug.

"Junpei… you shouldn't de-digivolve," Tomoki murmured quietly, pulling away. "If Yamato comes back-"

"He won't," Junpei promised, releasing Tomoki. "We'll go back again, Tomoki; just like last time."

"But it isn't just another world connected to ours this time!" Tomoki whimpered. "It's a whole other dimension… what if we _can't _go back?"

"We'll find a way," Junpei said before de-digivolving as Yamato's father began the difficult process of unlocking the front door. "I promise."

* * *

Takuya fidgeted in his seat, staring up at the clock as the second hand on it inched closer to three pm.

"Kanbara-kun?"

"Uh, yes sensei?" Takuya looked up guiltily as his maths teacher sighed.

"The value of x?"

"Uh… 10?" Takuya guessed, hoping that she'd know he was an idiot and just move on.

"No. Try again."

"Seventeen?"

"No."

"Five?"

"No."

"Twenty?"

"_No_."

"…Seventy three?"

"Oh dear gods," she face-palmed as a dozen students burst into giggles and the bell rang. "Just go…"

Takuya grinned and shoved his things into his bag before sprinting towards the computer room only to find that he was the last one there.

"Hey, Takuya," Akarumon yawned slightly as he stretched on top of a table – he had only been woken two minutes previously when Daisuke had burst into the room yelling profanities about how it wasn't his fault at the top of his voice.

"Hey, guys," Takuya greeted in return. "You all ready?"

"We were just waiting on you," Izumi sighed, a picnic basket in hand. "How do you never fail to be late?"

"It's a gift," Takuya smirked slightly before taking Akarumon in his arms – much to the wolf pup's humiliation – and standing beside his 'sister' as Miyako – who he, Tomoki and Izumi had been introduced to earlier, along with the rest of the younger Chosen Children – held her D3 up to the computer.

"_Digiport, open!_"

* * *

"So the children have returned."

"The Master will be pleased."

"Only ifff we manage to disssspatch them sssoon."

"If you're so eager to destroy them, maybe you should do it then."

The sound of scuttling feet echoed through the darkness.

"Perhapsss I will, my brother…"

* * *

"Why am I always at the bottom?" Izumi sighed as she ended up at the bottom of the dogpile of humans, the digimon having landed a while away – something that she was thankful for after seeing how large Armadimon was.

"You get used to it," Hikari sighed, being just above her; usually it was her at the bottom and she was slightly grateful for the change.

Within a few minutes, everyone had been freed of the dogpile and the picnic blanket had been neatly laid out, along with some plastic plates, cups, knives and forks.

"I don't know why we bother making it look nice," Miyako complained as she picked up the basket containing the food for the digimon before turning it upside down and allowing everything to tumble out haphazardly. "Okay, guys; dig in."

Immediately, all of the rookie digimon save Akarumon and Yorumon lunged for the food, while the two brothers and Tailmon made their way to it more slowly.

Unfortunately for Strabimon, he was still trying to get used to his claws, and so ended up spearing the beef sandwich that he'd been reaching for. Eventually though, he managed to pull off his black gloves – revealing a pair of padded hands, much like a dog's paws – which made it much easier to eat.

"Huh…" Hikari muttered, watching the brothers with curiosity.

"Is something wrong?"

She whipped around to see Izumi smiling nervously at her. Not wanting to worry the girl, Hikari shook her head slightly, "Nah; I'm fine."

A look of brief anger passed over Izumi's face before she nodded with a quiet 'oh' before walking back to her seat between Takuya and Tomoki.

_What was that about? _Hikari frowned in confusion, watching the blonde for a moment before shaking her head and sitting between Miyako and Iori. None of the elder Chosen were with them that day; the younger ones had made the request in order to get to know their new comrades.

(DD: I just want you guys to know that I'm still going off the Japanese version of things as much as possible, but I'm changing the ages because it's been five months since they went to the digital world)

"So what age are you guys anyway?" Ken inquired, noting that they all seemed younger than most of the Chosen – Iori not included.

"I'm ten, Takuya's eleven and Izumi only turned twelve last week," Tomoki smiled at the raven-haired boy.

Ken blinked in surprise. For a ten year old, Tomoki was quite mature; almost to the same extent as Iori.

"I do have one question for you guys though," Izumi stated before Ken could comment on their ages. She glanced sideways at Miyako, a curious look in her eyes, "Is that your natural hair colour? Because no offense, but no one had lavender hair back home unless they dyed it."

"Are you saying I dyed my hair?" Miyako scowled. "What about you? No one from Japan has blonde hair."

"Takeru does," Izumi shrugged simply, pointing to Takeru.

"Actually, my parents are both from France; they moved here just before my brother was born," Takeru smiled, also curious about the blonde female's lineage.

"Well, you're right anyway," Izumi shrugged. "I'm half-Italian. My mom met my dad here when she was on a business trip and decided to stay for a while, but she got homesick, so they went back to Italy when I was two. We only moved back to Japan last year."

"Oh…" Miyako blinked before looking down at her chocolate cupcake. "Sorry."

"What for?" Izumi shrugged. "I asked you about your hair, you asked me about mine. Nothing to be sorry for." She smiled slightly and Miyako returned the gesture.

"Well, it is natural; my mom and two of my sisters have lavender hair too," she explained, taking a lock of her hair and twisting it between her fingers. "I don't exactly know how I got it, but I'm not complaining."

Izumi giggled softly, causing Miyako to give her a strange look. Before she could say anything however, Strabimon stiffened and whipped around, his fur bristling as he quickly pulled his gloves back on, "Something's here…"

The Chosen and their digimon immediately grew quiet, suddenly noticing the sound of rustling bushes.

"Subtle, aren't they?" Patamon growled sarcastically only for Shimon to shake his head, his semi-circular ears pricked.

"No… they want us to know they're here… they want us to know that they've surrounded us."

* * *

So yeah. That's the story. Couldn't be bothered to do the commentary this time; sorry guys. Anyway, please review and vote on which story you want me to do.


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